


Love Story

by whiskey_bumblebee



Category: Marriage Story (2019)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Cheating, Divorce, F/M, Fix-It, Implied/Referenced Cheating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:54:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24616378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiskey_bumblebee/pseuds/whiskey_bumblebee
Summary: Months after Charlie and Nicole’s relationship has completely broken down, Charlie meets you at book club. Only a few weeks after that, Nicole takes off to California with Henry and serves Charlie the divorce proceedings. Hopeless, Charlie has no idea what to do or how he can turn this around. Nicole has her family, expensive lawyers, and most importantly, Henry. The source of all his problems is three thousand miles away, but it’s never felt closer to home.
Relationships: Charlie Barber/Reader, Charlie Barber/You
Comments: 3
Kudos: 33





	1. The Invisible Man's Collective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prelude to the main events of the fic, but thought I'd include it here since it's plot heavy :) 
> 
> The divorce proceedings have begun but Charlie and Nicole are still married. Meet cute for Charlie and Reader.

Charlie had joined the book club months ago. That self help book said that it would be good for him to branch out and develop interests that he didn’t share with Nicole. He’d scoffed at first, _God knows Nicole and I have nothing in fucking common, I have other interests._

But the fact was, getting married, having a kid, and having his career take off, he’d left a couple of those things behind so, here he was. Sitting with a glass of red wine that had been poured out of a bag, listening to Susanne talk about how the Handmaid’s Tale had been **so** enlightening for her as a Christian. 

He didn’t hate it.

His cover, if anyone were to ask, was that he’s a playwright and director looking to inspire some new work by reading and discussing narratives with a broad range of people. It wasn’t totally false.

You on the other hand, were new to New York. You’d only been in book club for two weeks or so. Charlie wanted to explain that it wasn’t always like this. Sometimes the club was assigned nonfiction, or work that was further from the mainstream. You looked as if you might fall asleep if Susanne’s voice didn’t keep fluctuating from rage to love to whatever that tone was that she took on to quote scripture.

_Maybe it won’t be the best place to meet new people._ Damn if that director wasn’t hot though. Sneaking a glance at him as you lifted your wine glass for a sip, you were pleased to see he looked just as bored.

“Thank you Susanne! It has really been so interesting to hear your take on the novel from that perspective.”

He looked away then, and you lowered your glass to follow his gaze. Kerrie had spoken.

“So reminder that next week, since it’ll be the first week of the month, we’ll be starting discussion of our next book! And that will be The Scarlet Letter. Please try to have read up to chapter seven...”

Kerrie’s voice faded into the background as you began packing your things back into your bag.

Months passed, novels with them. Some you definitely preferred to others. It was a nice mix of fiction and nonfiction essays and biographies. With book club providing a nice structure, you settled in, found the bars you liked, the best brunch that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. Moved into a new apartment with a better landlord, went out with work friends to walk along the High Line and share tapas at the end to celebrate a week well done.

It was around October by the time you were brave enough to ask Charlie if he’d like to go back to your place to talk about an idea you’d had. Probably for the first time ever in human history, it wasn’t a thinly veiled proposition.

After explaining that to him and hearing that wonderful laugh of his, he agreed.

All this was rushing through your mind as you made your way up the stairs to your apartment. With that special little wiggle and flick that it took to match the key up with the pins in the lock, you were inside.

“Nice place.”

“Oh, thank you. Still working my way up the ladder but I like it.” 

“Let me guess, your old place was bigger?”

You laughed as you stepped out of your shoes and tucked them into the little nook by the front door. Charlie jumped to do the same, but you assured him that you didn’t mind either way. 

Tossing your keys into the bowl on the coffee table, you walked to the kitchen.

“Tea, coffee?”

You felt him behind you before he answered, “Tea, please.”

Turning around and sitting up on the counter after you’d put on the kettle, you smiled. He thought there was something immediately wonderful about all this, how it felt like you were just doing what you’d do even if he hadn’t come over.

“I normally have green, is that okay?”

He nodded. “You dodged my question.”

“Oh, the size of the place?” 

He nodded again, took a seat on the edge of the little chair in the kitchen.

“Yeah. An apartment’s an apartment, so I don’t mind too much about the size, but man, paying rent kills a little piece of me every time.”

He laughed lightly and looked around the kitchen.

“It isn’t bad for a single person.”

There it was.

You nodded, put him at ease. Answered the question he hadn’t asked.

“I’m not too sure about that chair, by the way,” You cautioned, half joking. “I mostly just use it to reach these top shelves.”

You popped back down off the counter and mimed reaching to the top shelf from the ground, demonstrating how your fingers couldn’t quite grasp the handle.

He nodded in understanding and the kettle clicked. "I should say something.”

You nodded, poured the water over the teabags in the two mugs.

“I'm married."

Thankfully, you’d set the kettle back down, or you might have spilled scalding water all over yourself. "Oh my... I'm sorry,” You whipped around to face him. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable-”

"No not at all, uh, we're getting a divorce. We're in the middle of the lawsuit, custody over our son and..."

You nodded and nodded and nodded, then consciously stopped yourself, realizing you were borderline resembling a bobble-head.

"So what was your idea? You mentioned a play?"

"Oh um. You can go home if it'll make you uncomfortable to be here. It's just something I thought about with what we were reading."

"Not at all, I just didn't want you to get the wrong idea." Charlie must have seen the disappointment on your face. "Not like that, I just wanted you to know."

Not like that? Your mind turned over and over.

"So the idea." You sat down at your coffee table and pulled out your notebook, where you'd sketched the name of the play up in lights. Charlie chuckled, and you smiled a little bit at the sound, tucking your bottom lip into your mouth to hold back a grin.

"Hollywood Said No?"

"You're either gonna love it or hate it."

He shrugged, motioned for you to go ahead.

"So the elevator pitch is that the core protagonists are a group of aging actresses who were slowly shut out of Hollywood, then they move to New York for a fresh start. One of them has a law degree she abandoned, they have a handful of kids between them- sorry I'm getting too into the details."

Charlie pulled out his own notebook from his back pocket of his jeans. "No, no. I love details. Keep going. Do you have a pen?"

You slid one across the table as he sat down. "They meet up with a couple of people who could never break into Hollywood, folks with disabilities, actors of color, a single mother. They all commiserate and establish "The Invisible Man's Collective", which is an academy that does awards and things like the Oscars, but has a minimum threshold of representation to be eligible. Anyway. It's made up of little vignettes about their lives after they move, then culminates in the formation of the collective. Thoughts?"

"Could you scan these to me?"

"I could text you pictures? I don't have a copier."

"Oh yeah, of course,” He laughed, realized how often you made him feel like he wanted to. “You're making me feel like an old person."

You passed your phone across the table, he entered his number, and the rest, as they say, is history. 


	2. We Haven't Been Together In A Long Fucking Time

Charlie ran his hand up and down your arm softly as you lay in bed, side by side. It was an action that anyone else would take as absent-minded, but knowing Charlie as you did, you knew there was a court of a thousand thoughts fighting to be heard inside his head.

“I know it’s stupid, and I know the divorce is going to be hard as hell, but I’m glad I can come over and just be with you like this. I mean, you’re still together-”

“No.”

It was a simple response, but it was firm. He rolled over to face you.

“We haven’t been together in a long fucking time.”

You untangled yourself from his grasp, stroked his arm softly when he groaned in disagreement.

“I need to pee, I’ll be back.”

He nodded and sat up against the wall behind the bed, stretched out his shoulders.

You returned a few minutes later with a damp washcloth. Tenderly, you wiped his forehead, smiled to yourself as he closed his eyes.

He’d broken quite the sweat with how hard he’d just fucked you, and his cheeks were still pink despite the chill of New York in the wintertime. With his schedule, he wouldn’t shower until morning, and you wanted him to have at least a clean face before he fell asleep. 

“I love how you take care of me like you take care of yourself. By the time _we_ get a divorce, we’ll need two separate bathrooms to hold all the skincare and bath stuff.”

Pressing your lips together to hold back a laugh, you dabbed at his cheeks with the warm cloth, ran your thumb over his temple as he opened his eyes and smiled.

You couldn’t help but kiss him then, with how his face looked in this light, in this second. 

“Charlie,” You said softly as you pulled away.

He hummed, had the thought that he’d never get over the way that his name sounded on your lips.

The thought made itself into a line of dialogue while he thought it, and he gently pressed a finger to your lips, reached for the pen and notepad he kept on his bedside table.

_I only ever want you two ways, you hear me? I want my lips on your lips or my name on your lips. It’s one of the two, never anything else._

You peered at the paper, nodded in approval as you teased his finger with your lips, drawing the tip into your mouth and biting down lightly. He scrawled a note underneath it that you didn’t read, preoccupied with the way his brow furrowed and his chest twisted when he replaced the notepad.

He moved his hand away from your face and rested it on your thigh.

“I guess your sense of humor is gonna get real shitty, huh?” You smiled kindly but he knew you were right. He’d already noticed it getting darker, even in the few days since Nicole had run away. 

“You’re gonna have to write all my jokes,” He teased back, rubbing his hand over your thigh to warm it. “Otherwise nobody’ll be laughing except me.”

You shrugged. “I’d laugh, I’d just kiss you afterwards and ask if you were okay.”

He shrugged back, imitating your expression. “Would you let everybody kiss me and ask if I was okay?” 

You shook your head then, violently enough to send your hair flying off your shoulders for a moment. “Maybe Frank.”

He chuckled and moved his hands around to your back, cupping your shoulder blades.

Implications and subtexts were almost always visible in the room, even when it was just the two of you. Always having to speak in innuendo around everyone else, you’d become used to it and for once, it was wonderful to just say what you meant. Say it loudly, say it with a laugh, say it while holding him. 

“I wish you’d develop a skincare routine actually. It would be very sexy of you.”

“Really?” He quirked an eyebrow. “Maybe for Christmas.”

You pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips and rolled your eyes.

Nicole was in a similar position, three thousand miles away. Curled up in bed with a lover, if you could call someone you didn’t love a lover.

Silicon Valley money, some start-up. He’d told her once how it all worked. Rich enough to pay for her big shot lawyer, to make her richer. Maybe a little action on the side.

She couldn’t help but think about all this, with her lips around his cock. Thought about how Charlie had been too big to blow properly. Pushed that out of her mind and sank down further onto his cock. Zack’s cock.

He came soon enough, offered a half-hearted apology that he was too tired to return the favor. Nicole reached for the trash can and spat.

“Would you swallow if we got married?”

She wiped the corner of her mouth, shrugged. “Probably.”

“What’s your ring size?”

“Like a seven?”

She walked over to the bureau where she kept her keys, picked up her wedding ring and tossed it to Zack.

“Have you got a lawyer yet?”

Charlie shook his head. “I met with that one guy I told you about, total asshole. Too expensive.”

You nodded, passed him a cup of coffee and looked around the kitchen of your apartment. He stirred the coffee, the clinking of the spoon against the cup the only sound aside from the traffic.

“I could rent this place out.”

The clinking stopped suddenly and you glanced at Charlie.

“What?” You asked.

He was silent for a moment, unsure how to respond. 

“We could make some good money, pay your legal fees. I could move in with my cousin. It’s New York, some asshole will need a place and pay decent rent.”

He said your name softly. “Thank you. I’d ask you to move in with me but with everything…”

He closed the distance between you and kissed you tenderly.

You rubbed your palm over his side, felt how wide he was, how real he was. Months of pretending there was nothing there between the two of you…

It was all so real. But at the same time it was so intangible. A game of chess that Charlie and Nicole didn’t know how to play, coached by the most expensive coaches in the world, moments to be emphasized that he could barely remember.

You pulled away from the kiss, sighed.

“Please, Charlie, let me do this for us. Long term, it’s better.”

He nodded, kissed your cheek as an apology for not knowing the right place to even start with talking about all this.

“Would you be okay with renting it out? I mean, it’s _your_ place. What if they fuck it up?”

You shrugged, took a drink from your mug.

“I don’t mind, I spend most of my time with you anyway. Plus it’ll help my cousin make rent.”

The way he looked at you then was a look you wouldn’t soon forget.

“You’re an angel,” He said softly. “A goddess, a saint or something like that.”

You shook your head, wrapped your arms around his waist. “None of that, I just love somebody.”

He leaned down and kissed you, then pulled away.

“I gotta go and meet with one of the lawyers real quick, but we’re gonna talk about this when I get back. I want to make sure it’s all gonna work out.”

“Which lawyer?”

“Elijah, think his last name was Miller? Can I take this with me?” He raised the mug as he shrugged his other arm into his coat.

You nodded, kissed his cheek.

You couldn’t help but picture your mug sitting in his car once he’d finished his coffee. All the little artifacts you could start to leave in each other’s lives now that there wasn’t so much scrutiny from Nicole’s friends. 

“Nicole’s requesting a full financial audit. If that’s something you’re prepared for, nod. If it isn’t, don’t react and don’t say a word.” 

Charlie nodded. “Everything’s fine, has to be, ‘cos I run my own company and all that. Does she think I haven’t been filing my taxes or something?”

His knee was bouncing under the desk, he saw the water in his white plastic cup rippling as he moved.

Miller shrugged. “If I was in her head I’d be charging you a hell of a lot more. I’ve got no idea what this all is about, but just keep your books clean. Guessing she’s probably about to milk you for every cent she can.”

The lawyer pulled out a notepad and pen.

Charlie sighed. “Seems in character.”

“Any large sums of money I should know about that she’s gonna try get at? Inheritances, trust funds?”

“Fuck.”

“What?” The lawyer looked up from his notebook.

“I just got a grant, a MacArthur grant.”

“Uh huh, and how much is that worth?” The lawyer underlined the word ‘macarthur’.

“Around six hundred thousand dollars.”

The lawyer tossed his notebook onto the table and sighed, looking over his glasses at Charlie.

“That’s what she’s gunning for.”

“Christ,” Charlie said. “I was gonna put that into Henry’s college fund, pay off my student loan.”

“Look, we’ll do our best, but if that grant has lit a fire under her ass, it’s gonna be hard work.”

Charlie laughed, shook his head. 

“She hacks my fucking emails, wants nonexistent income from my play and now she’s coming for a fucking grant I was going to use for Henry? How low can she get?”

“It’s divorce buddy, you think people can’t get any lower, then they show up with a pickaxe-”

The lawyer stopped in his tracks and stared at Charlie.

“What did you say about emails?”

Sandra swirled the wine around her glass, sighed as it stuck to the sides and evaporated in the persistent California heat. The phone was pressed against her ear as she offered the best advice she could.

“Nicole, I just don’t know about all this. You know Charlie only ever wanted the best for Henry. He barely keeps himself afloat with how much he spends on that theater and the grant is his one chance to change that.”

“If he is a _genius_ then he’ll have other chances. And you know, I’d really appreciate it if maybe you took my side just for once. So what if he wants the best for Henry! He’s meant to want the best for me!”

“Then aren’t you meant to want the best for him?”

Nicole was seething with rage, Sandra could tell even without seeing her face or the way she’d be pacing around whatever room she was in.

“God I did! I did for so long, but I got tired of never getting it back!”

“Honey, calm down. He isn’t here, you’re just yelling at me now.”

Sandra knocked back her wine and entertained the thought of liking Charlie better than her own daughter. It wasn’t true, of course it couldn’t be, but she’d much rather be hearing him call her g-ma, than hear Nicole berating her for not being supportive enough.

Nicole was still yelling, and Sandra stood up and walked to the kitchen island to pour herself another glass, waited for her daughter to finish. At least she wasn’t taking it out on Henry.

“How’s that Zack guy doing?”

She looked around the kitchen, remembered how Charlie had taken up this space in the past. It seemed too big now that it was empty. Too big now that Cassie and Charlie weren’t bantering in it, playing games with Henry or challenging each other to do a more ridiculous accent. Charlie had filled it out nicely, with that huge frame of his. 

She promptly realized that Nicole had been answering and she hadn’t been listening in the slightest.

“-works all the time, mostly from home but he isn’t really present. It doesn’t matter, he’s fine with Henry so- are you trying to get me to change the subject? Jesus, nobody listens to me.”

_Maybe your marriage counselor would if you’d just had a bit more patience with that poor guy. Maybe Charlie would, maybe Cassie would if you weren’t so shrill, if you didn’t always have a bone to pick._

“The game’s about to start, I promised Cassie I’d watch it with her. Sorry honey but I have to go.”

“Of course, abandoning me like everyone else.”

“Honey, I’m not abandoning you, I’m right here. You could come over tonight if you wanted.”

“Zack’s taking me out to some new sushi place for dinner.”

“That’s nice. Who’s going to look after Henry?”

“Shit, I was gonna ask you to do it. Can you?”

Sandra closed her eyes, moved the phone away from her mouth and sighed heavily, then plastered a smile on her face and hoped Nicole would hear her enthusiasm.

“Sure, honey. What time’s your dinner?”

“So it all sounds okay?”

You and Charlie were holding hands on the subway back from your cousin’s place. For the first time in a long while, you felt the anonymity of New York again. Felt that nobody gave a damn if you were sitting in the corner of the car and holding hands, hell, you could even kiss him. Could rest your head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, she’s real nice. You don’t think it’s too far from my place?”

You shook your head. “It’s real quick, I think it’s only 15 minutes further away than mine.”

Charlie nodded, looked at you like he wanted a kiss. You smiled at him and leaned in as if to whisper in his ear, instead kissing his cheek softly.

“Feels like the end of an era, you know? It’s where you pitched the play to me, I think we had our first kiss there.”

“I’m not selling, Charlie, it’s just a rental. I can always go back, just need to give notice and then it’s mine again. Most of my shit is staying there anyway, appliances, you know?”

Charlie nodded, sucked on his bottom lip. “I want you to move in with me as soon as you can, as soon as you feel safe and as soon as Elijah okays it.”

He scrambled for his notebook, wasn’t sure if it was in his coat or his jeans, then found it in his back pocket, hoped the car would stay stable enough for it to be legible. 

_If you’re in Queens or the Bronx you’re too far. If you’re in Manhattan, you’re too far. If you’re in the Upper West Side, you’re too far, if you’re across the road from my apartment, you’re too far. If you’re in the kitchen brewing a pot of coffee, you’re too far. I need you right here, rib to rib, shoulder to shoulder._


	3. The Office

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie flies to LA for the beginning of the divorce proceedings and does some research into Nicole's partner. Hurt/comfort and light angst, overuse of italics and light cyber-stalking.

“I’m going to have to use the MacArthur for legal fees.”

You looked at Charlie suddenly and dropped your fork. 

“No…”

He nodded and pushed away the plate of breakfast, looking at it disdainfully and resting his elbows on the table.

“At least that way there won’t be any of it left for her to take in settlement,” He said bitterly, using his knife to push shapes into the paper napkin. The lines were angry and jagged. Monstrous teeth and claws.

You roughly rubbed the skin of your forehead and sighed. Charlie reached across the table and pulled your hand away, kissing it gently.

“It isn’t about the money. I just can’t live without Henry. We… We set up this life for him, you know? Bought the apartment in a neighborhood with good schools, started putting away some cash when we could for his college fees…”

“That’s the thing that’s really fucking me off. Nicole isn’t thinking about any of that, she’s hired her big shot lawyer and now she’s gonna start fresh with all of your money, shit” You sighed heavily again.

“Fucking you off?” Charlie smiled as wide as he could manage, given the topic of conversation. “That what the kids say nowadays?”

You shook your head with a smile. “C’mon, eat your eggs. You’re not gonna like whatever the fuck they serve on the flight.”

Charlie groaned playfully. “Can I have some of your french toast? The eggs just don’t look as good.”

“All two bites that are left?” You teased and slid the plate across the table. “Then I want an egg.”

Charlie wished he’d kissed you at the airport, everyone and everything else be damned. It would have settled his stomach a bit. Would have made him feel a bit better about leaving you behind.

He looked at his watch again, saw he was an hour into the flight. There were a few hours for him to have a breakthrough. A few hours to prove that he wasn’t the parent Nicole was going to make him out to be.

There was a notepad on the tray table in front of him, a different one to his normal one, which was digging into his ass in the back pocket of his jeans. 

_-Although both of us are involved in the arts spheres, my career is considerably more established. I currently have a play moving to Broadway, which will provide a stable, generous income for myself and Henry to live on. Additionally, I have a number of other plays in the works which have been picked up for off-Broadway production later in the year. Nicole, on the other hand, having just relocated to Los Angeles on a whim, has no obvious career path, and no current income. Your honor, television is inherently more unstable than Broadway for reasons which I could go into at length, but for the sake of our time, I will reserve these and offer them only if they become relevant._

_-Nicole is currently living with a partner, which might be traumatic for Henry so soon after a divorce. I’m currently living alone and will continue to do so until a psychologist deems it safe for Henry to meet a step-parent._

_-Nicole hacked my emails?? Not exactly rolemodel material_

_-Nicole ran away from all of her responsibilities once, what’s to say she won’t do it again?_

Charlie pored over the list again and again. There had to be more to it than that. Looking at it for this long left him with an odd feeling. There was a bitter taste in his mouth from writing these things about Nicole. Everything else aside, they had been in love once. This seemed to break a rule of common courtesy. 

On the other hand, he wanted to slam her. He wanted to write all the terrible things she’d said to him and Henry. All guns blazing. There were skeletons in her closet that he could exhume and throw back at her, shine a torch on and scrutinize. She struggled to hold down a job, some of her earlier roles had been overtly sexual, a sex tape between her and a colleague had been spread on more than one occasion, she’d kicked a dog once or twice if she was in a rush and it blocked her path.

He didn’t know what to keep buried because he didn’t know where she’d draw the line, **if** she’d draw a line.

The second item on the list was the one that he kept coming back to. Cassie had mentioned that Henry spent a lot of time between houses, sometimes spending time with Sandra, other times staying at Nicole’s partner’s house. 

_What was his name?_

_Zack._

Charlie opened Facebook and looked up Nicole, then opened her list of friends. Scrolling right to the bottom, he saw two people called Zack and opened each of them in a new tab. 

One of them was from Maryland, so Charlie assumed it would be the other one. Upon seeing several pictures with Nicole on his profile, he figured he was right. 

Deep down the rabbit hole now, Charlie googled his name and opened a few tabs on him. LinkedIn, a profile and interview in some tech magazine, an article he’d co-written. All fairly standard as he scrolled through.

_entrepreneurship, 21st century manifest destiny, silicon valley, emails, ex-girlfriend, web development-_

_Emails. Ex-girlfriend._

Charlie scrolled back up and clicked his pen, readying it over his notebook. 

_“So how did you get your start in tech?”_

_He laughs awkwardly and shrugs, caught between wanting to spill and keeping a secret. “There was this girlfriend I had in college, an ex-girlfriend now. We’d been competing for this really high level job at a massive firm, I won’t say who, but it rhymes with Moogle, and I hadn’t gotten any response from them. I wanted to know if she got it, so I called up a friend of mine who was more into that stuff and we figured out a way to break her email encryption and read all her emails. Turned out that she didn’t get the placement either, but she dumped me pretty hard once she found out I’d hacked her emails. The college found out and there was a big privacy push with the college email addresses, but once Moogle found out, well… They needed a guy like me on their team.”_

_“Do any of those weaknesses still exist? It must be a big concern for people now that just about everyone says just about everything over email.”  
_

_“I can’t say,” He offers a smirk in lieu of a definitive answer. “Well, for the regular person, no. For someone who has a background in it, there’s always a way.”_

Charlie felt sick. This guy must be a total scumbag. He half wanted to reach out to the ex-girlfriend and ask if she was okay. Head spinning with the implications of this, he scrolled to the top of the article and checked the date, about a year ago. 

He pressed the button for a flight attendant and waited impatiently, tapping his foot quickly as he scribbled down the date and the name of the magazine.

“How can I help?”

“Can I make a call? It’s important.”

“Not with cellular service, sir, but if you use something like FaceTime, that should be alright. If it’s private, would you like to make it in the galley?”

Charlie nodded and crawled over the sleeping man next to him.

His phone pinged with a text notification when he turned off flight mode. 

Sandra: Hi Charlie! Hear you’ll be on this coast soon, I hope despite everything happening we’ll have some time to catch up. I’m thinking of moving somewhere a little more convenient for Henry and was wondering if you could help me look at some rentals? You always had such a knack with smelling a rat in those. Hugs, Sandra

Charlie was caught between a smile and a sigh. He’d always gotten on well with Sandra and Cassie, and there was no way things could stay normal once all of this had played out, no matter how things went. 

He opened your conversation and typed a message to you.

Charlie: Just landed, think I made some progress on the case re: email hacking. Remember to pick up your printing at the office

You hugged your phone close to your chest, glad that Charlie had landed safely. Reading the message again, you smiled wider. _The office._ Ever since you’d started texting rather than setting up an encrypted chat every time you wanted to say something, you’d developed little codes.

Nicole was “Becky from the show”.  
Dates were “Johnny’s having drinks at _”.  
And if you wanted to say I love you, you’d invent something new related to the fictional office you worked at. Someone was working late at the office, Charlie had noticed the lights were still on in the office, the shredder broke at the office, they’d fixed the bathroom in the office.

That, and you were saved as David in his phone.

It was a half-hearted effort to disguise your relationship, but it made you feel a little better, just in case someone was watching. In case questions were raised about Charlie’s friend who he messaged fairly often. 

You: Thanks, just went by the office to pick it up. Good luck

_I love you too. Good luck._

Charlie took a deep breath and straightened his collar. Nicole was in there, God knows where Henry was. Nora was in there. There was just about nobody on his team except the lawyer he’d hired late last night. 

He walked in and settled in his chair, sliding his notebook to the lawyer. He’d gone through more lawyers than couples’ counselors the last few months, and that was saying something with how picky Nicole was. Maybe she just never wanted to try.

The lawyer raised an eyebrow at Charlie and pulled out his phone. The judge hadn’t arrived yet, and Nicole was refusing to make eye contact. She was wearing a tacky blazer and dress pants. Who the fuck wore sequins to a divorce hearing?

The lawyer turned a page of the notebook and wrote something, then passed it to Charlie.

_She just lost this whole thing. Good work son. I’ll make quick work of it and you’ll be back in New York before you know it._

The judge walked in and Charlie breathed a sigh of relief.

He left the hearing with a clenched jaw and ready to dial your number as soon as he was out of sight of everybody. 

Nicole had pulled a whole bunch of shit out of thin air, accusing Charlie of cheating on several occasions, as early as a month into their relationship. Then she said that California was better for a child to grow up. Bigger, better air quality, nicer green spaces. 

Then she pulled the card that Charlie never could; she was the _mother, the maternal figure, the mom, the female influence._ Henry would be _irreparably damaged_ if he grew up without a mother. 

He sighed all the way up the stairs into the motel and punched your number into the keypad. 

“Charlie,” You said sweetly, sleepy.

“Fuck, what time is it there?”

“Eleven,” Your voice broke slightly and you yawned. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

You shook your head, Charlie could hear your hair brushing against the phone. 

“Don’t rush. Take your time, just make sure you bring back Henry. She won’t win.”

He collapsed on the bed and started breathing quickly, crying your name.

“What am I gonna do? This lawyer’s gonna run me into debt if this thing drags on, and Nicole’s going to drag it, fuck,” He sobbed. “She’s gonna drag it out.”

Your chin trembled and you pulled your lip between your teeth, tucking your legs underneath you on the couch.

“We’ll work it out, it’ll work out. They’ll see right through her shit,” Your voice wavered. “Did anything go well?”

“The forensic accountant didn’t find anything in my records, aside from the MacArthur payments, but they’re all clean. Turns out I can get the accountant to cross-examine her, long shot but I’ll take what I can get.”

“How did your email hacking lead go?”

“This round was Nicole slinging shit at me. Next time I’ll be able to use it, but we’ve passed it to the Judge for now.”

You heard him blowing his nose as his breathing steadied.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to get that wound up.”

“I get it, it’s scary. It’s high stakes.”

“It’s like, it’s like… an argument. We keep throwing fresh mud at each other and whoever sticks the most mud, wins. But if I lose the argument, I lose Henry.”

“You won’t. I only did that one law class in college but there’s more to your case than hers. She’s proved she’s erratic and liable to run at any moment.”

“Yeah,” Charlie sighed. “I just wish you were here.”

“Me too.”

“I’d take you out for dinner. There’s a bunch of Chinese places close to this motel, I think I’ve tried them before.”

“Well, I’ve already eaten dinner, so I’m in the mood for something a little different.”

“Oh? Pray tell?”

“I’m not feeling that brave yet, baby. I’m so scared someone’s listening in.”

“Fuck ‘em. What don’t they know from listening to the last few minutes?”

“Fuck ‘em?” You smiled, thought you’d be twirling the cable of the telephone around your finger if mobile phones had them. 

“Fuck ‘em,” Charlie affirmed.

“Well then, I love you.”

The words sent a jolt of lightning down his spine. He’d waited so long to say it over the phone, carefully read his messages and translated them. So many fucking things going wrong at _the office,_ so many reminders about _the office._

“I love you too.”


	4. Sandra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The conclusion of the divorce hearing...

Something about this seemed illicit. The coffee between Charlie’s hands was warm, as was Sandra’s smile when she welcomed Charlie into her home. He would have just walked in here once upon a time, maybe knocked to let the people inside know that someone was coming in, call out something like “hello” then help himself to rice crackers from the pantry.

It had been civilities up until this point, _how are you doing_ and _I hope you know I tried to talk her out of this._ That didn’t matter now, Charlie just wanted to do his best to keep Sandra in his life, if not as a mother in law, then as a counselor, a confidante. Even though the divorce was messy, it wasn’t as if Charlie was devastated to see the last of Nicole.

“So,” Sandra drummed her fingers against the outside of her mug. “As you know, I’m thinking of moving to somewhere better for Henry. I thought you could help me look at schools and things.”

Charlie exhaled heavily and looked up at the ceiling, sadness already beginning to unfurl within him. Nicole’s own mother was coming to him to ask about schools because Nicole had no interest, or knowledge, or interest in having knowledge.

“I’m assuming you don’t want the court to know I’m here? It doesn’t look good for Nicole if I’m the one you’re consulting.”

Sandra looked around the room. Charlie couldn’t tell if she was actually looking for something or was just trying to avoid his gaze. 

“Actually, I wanted to meet with you before the final hearing this morning because,” She took a breath. “Because I want to give you a better shot.”

Charlie raised an eyebrow involuntarily. It was hard to separate Sandra from his war with Nicole. 

“I don’t want to stay in California, Charlie. There are a lot of reasons, I’m tired of the weather, the wildfires, the traffic, the entertainment industry. It’s just not good for me anymore.”

He nodded, Sandra didn’t have to convince him. He’d disliked California, Los Angeles specifically, since he came here for the first time to meet Nicole’s family. It was too hot, too built up in badly thought-out ways, too dry, too artificial. 

“Where are you thinking?”

“I’m not sure yet. Something close to you, but I don’t want to live in the city. I’m too old,” She smiled, and Charlie smiled back. “I’m not sure about New York. It seems a bit too pointed to move to exactly the same state as you. I don’t know what’s gotten into Nicole recently, but I still don’t want to hurt her.”

Charlie pulled up a map and zoomed into the northeast. 

“Oh God, not New Jersey,” Nicole laughed.

Charlie chuckled. “Don’t worry, we’ll find you somewhere nice.”

He sipped at his coffee, licked the foam off his top lip. Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine. 

“What about Maine?”

“How do you feel about the cold?”

“Well, I like skiing. I’m spending a lot of time these days at home anyway, so as long as I have a good heater, I don’t mind it. Seems like a nice place to retire.”

Charlie moved his head from side to side, balancing the pros and cons. “If you live towards the south, it’ll be a bit warmer, the flight to New York will be shorter.”

He glanced up at Sandra. “Are you sure you want to do this? I have a good case for custody even if you don’t move. And however you go about it, Nicole is gonna be upset.”

Sandra shrugged. “I’m not just doing it for you, Charlie-bird. I’m tired of living here. I want something new.”

Charlie walked around the table and hugged her from behind. “Thank you.”

She reached around and patted his shoulder. “You’re the one helping me. So do I have to present at the court today and talk about wanting to move?”

“I could present it, you’d just have to be there to confirm I’m giving a fair representation of what you want. Nicole’s lawyers might put you on the stand and cross-examine you so that they can have your testimony under oath.”

Sandra smiled. “Then I should probably go find something to wear.”

“To summarize my findings, it appears that Nicole has been receiving monthly payments from Zack for several months. The high sums and automatic nature of the payments would lead me to believe that this relationship has extensive and calculated financial benefits for Nicole. One such benefit is that she has been able to hire a much more experienced legal team, while Charlie, who was blindsided and significantly affected by the sudden loss of both Nicole and support from her income, has been left on the back foot.”

“So you would feel comfortable drawing the conclusion that Nicole has been planning a divorce for quite some time?”

“Yes.”

“And you would feel comfortable drawing the conclusion that she has been using her relationship with Zack for financial benefit, including for the purpose of claiming some of Mr. Barber’s income for herself?”

“I can’t speak for her purpose. but the payments align with the first time that Mrs. Barber mentioned divorce to her family and friends. It also aligns with a search for flights to California.”

“One way?”

“Yes.”

“So, if you were to make a character judgement of Mrs. Barber, would you identify her as fit to be a parent?”

“I can’t speak on her character personally, but at least from a financial standpoint, it appears Mrs. Barber would require significant child support from Mr. Barber if she were not receiving these payments.”

“Thank you. Your Honor, that’s all that we need to hear from this witness. So, Your Honor, what we have heard from the accountant this morning is that Mrs. Barber’s arrangements with Zack are, at best, a premeditated, profit-based arrangement, and at worst, prostitution.”

Charlie had to fight to keep the smile off his face. When he began the counter-investigation into Nicole’s finances, he never could have imagined this would be the outcome. He was surprised Nicole’s lawyers weren’t trying to shut this down. What could they bring as defence? ‘ _But Your Honor, I love him’?_

“However, that isn’t the extent of the relationship. Zack has also openly admitted to being involved in email hacking in the past, and when we tracked the origin of Mr. Barber’s email hack, it led back to an IP address in Silicon Valley. This address was registered to none other than Zack. Therefore, the relationship between Zack and Mrs. Barber has been specifically orchestrated in an attempt to devastate Mr. Barber. Before we conclude our case, Mr. Barber has information he’d like to present.”

The lawyer sat down and gestured for Charlie to stand.

“Thank you. After Nicole’s case for custody unfolded, several of us present at the hearing were inspired to think about what comprises a supportive family structure. One thing that I cannot claim to be, is a mother. The importance of a female figure in a child’s upbringing is one I cannot overstate. However, I’m not asking for 100% custody. Whether or not Nicole has shown love or care for her son, I know he loves her, and he would be able to see her frequently over Skype, and occasionally in person. In addition to this, Sandra, Mrs. Barber’s mother, informed me this morning of her plans to move to the northeast to retire. If I were to be granted custody, Sandra would play an instrumental role in the formation of a healthy, supportive family unit.”

“Is this true, Mrs. Sandra Barber?”

“Yes, Your Honor. At the moment, the plan is Maine.”

“Mom, what the fuck?!”

“I can’t do that to Charlie, Nicole. And more importantly, I can’t do that to Henry. You can’t uproot them. Not at Henry’s age, and not at the stage where Charlie is in his career. They need a family.”

“You’re a fucking... You’re a traitor! I can’t believe this.”

Nicole slammed the car door and sped off. Sandra wondered if she’d put on a seat belt.

Charlie’s hands were shaking when he called you. It rang twice before you picked up and the anticipation made him nauseous.

“Charlie?” Your voice was soft, like you’d been sleeping. He glanced at the time, it would be just after lunchtime in New York.

“You been sleeping?”

“No, I’ve just got a dry throat, baby. How’d it go?”

“I’m gonna order some soup or something for delivery,” He chuckled. “I’m gone for a week and you’re on death’s door.”

“Har har. C’mon, how’d it go?”

“Good. I like how things are looking.”

“Things have been changing so fast. It feels like every time you call, it’s a different story.”

“I think we’ve slung all the mud we can. No more surprises,” Charlie sighed and lowered his voice. “God, I just wanna be with you and hold your hand. The Judge is gonna call us back in and announce the outcome in a few minutes.”

“I wanna be with you too. How’s Nicole looking?”

“I don’t know, Sandra said she took off somewhere just after we were adjourned.”

Despite everything, you hoped she was okay. You’d seen how hard this had been on Charlie, having everything dredged up and smeared around. Even if she’d started it, nobody deserved a relationship that ended like this.

“Well, as soon as you know, go back to the hotel and call me there, okay? I love you but we can’t risk them hearing anything, even half of the conversation. We’re so close, Charlie.”

He could hear the nerves in your voice, could probably feel them more than hear them even.

“Of course. God, sorry, I haven’t been thinking. I gotta go, the guy’s waving us over. See you back at the office on Monday.”

You smiled. “See you at the office.”

“Both of you have been through enough already with this, so I’ll keep this short. If you have any questions, consult the printed terms that will be given to you shortly.” The Judge looked so stoic that it made Charlie’s hands shake. This was it. The final verdict.

Charlie and Nicole nodded, their teams nodded.

“Firstly, Mrs. Barber, the divorce has been granted, effective immediately.”

The admission did nothing to ease the pressure in the room. If anything, Nicole looked even more poised to spring.

“On custody,”

The Judge took a pause to breathe and Charlie thought he might faint. He gripped the edge of the table tightly, watched the blood drain from his knuckles as he fought to keep his shoulders steady with even breaths. 

“I’m granting Mr. Barber full legal and physical custody of Henry. Mrs. Barber, you will have visitation rights only on a scheduled basis, as per the terms I have set out in this document.”

The Judge waved and the bench clerk stood and gave a binder each to Charlie, Nicole, and their legal teams.

“Now, in regard to allegations of email hacking and sex-for-profit against Mrs. Barber, I would recommend the commencement of a separate trial, if any parties are inclined to resolutions beyond those which I will set out. Mrs. Barber, you will be responsible for covering the court costs of the hearings, as well as reimbursing Mr. Barber for his legal and counsel fees, as you intentionally created a situation to financially harm Mr. Barber.”

Charlie felt lightheaded. Nicole would be paying for his lawyers?

“And finally, on child support, upon leaving the court, I would advise the Barbers to have a brief conversation about their individual stances on a child support arrangement. Before either of you leave, I would ask that you both sign the final two pages of the settlement document I have given you. Tear off the back page for our records, and keep the other page in the settlement document for your personal records. Court dismissed.”

Nicole was swimming. Swimming in crocodile tears, swimming in self-pity, in confusion at how this all could have gone so wrong. She walked out of the courtroom, numb, and waited with Nora for Charlie and his lawyer.

She hastily signed the pages, left them open for Charlie to sign. Charlie wordlessly put his document on the desk too, and Nicole signed it, despite Nora’s pleas. Charlie signed the pages as well, saw that Nicole had scrawled a hasty “fuck you” next to Charlie’s signature on one of the copies of the settlement. While she cried and Nora attempted to persuade her that she could turn it around, Charlie carefully picked up the one without the cussing, and left.

The drive to the hotel was illegally fast, but responsible otherwise. Charlie couldn’t believe it. He knew he wouldn’t believe it for days yet. He blew out deep breaths through his mouth, fighting off tears. 

He unlocked his door and dropped the keys, the settlement, his blazer, then dialed your number with shaking hands.

A phone rang in the bedroom. 

You stepped out into the hallway, a cautious smile on your face.

“How’d it go?”

Charlie fell at your feet, crying like you were a saint, or a monarch.

After a moment, he stood up and wiped off his cheeks, kissed you and pulled away, started talking, couldn’t make the words, and kissed you again.

You lightly pushed him away. “C’mon, I’m dying to know.”

“I, I got custody. Full, and,” He breathed out, lungs seemingly shaking now too. “Nicole’s paying my legal fees, my lawyers...”

You laughed and started crying, then kissed him.

“Oh Charlie...”

He stroked your side, admiring your dress.

“God, I wanna see this on the floor. You’re an angel.”

You smirked, playing with the collar of his dress shirt. “Well, now that you’re no longer a married man, you can give it to me extra hard.”


	5. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story ends. The love doesn't.

So Charlie wins custody. He returns to New York, triumphant and a father again, a father with a fuller heart than he ever imagined he could have. A father with a child, while Nicole was in L.A., mourning the loss of the MacArthur she had never won. Mourning the loss of the money and thinking occasionally of her son.

You meet Henry as Charlie's girlfriend for the first time, rather than a friend. Henry doesn't understand why his dad tears up a little bit when he smiles and says he's glad he'll get to see you more. Henry knows you'll never try and replace his mother, and despite the hell Nicole put Charlie through, Charlie only ever speaks kindly about her. That being said, he hires a professional organizer who purges the apartment of everything Nicole: the wedding photos, the random junk she left in her dresser, the bigger things too. Because Charlie is _nice_ he ensures the organizer checks with Nicole to see if she wants to keep anything. When push comes to shove, it becomes clear that she has no interest in the artefacts of the life she left behind.

There's a bit of money that comes from that, selling most of her clothes, all of the furniture that reminds Charlie of the life they had (which is most of it). It's money that isn't spent on new furniture, though. There's no need for it, when you move out of your apartment and Charlie insists you bring your furniture with you. Everything from the worn out brown sofa to the kitchen utensils. Being the meticulous organizer he is, Charlie makes sure everything has a place.

Although Charlie and Nicole are far from A-listers, their private life becomes rather public in the wake of the divorce. Between Charlie's debut on Broadway and Nicole's lingering fame from her old films, it feels like the whole world wakes up and picks sides. Although it was generally split along East Coast/West Coast lines, Nicole is cancelled by enough people for it to become third page news. Turns out email hacking is a crime. Anyone young enough to understand what cancelling means refuses to hire her, afraid of public backlash if she appeared in their projects. The last time Charlie checked, she was making a living somehow, had been dropped by Zack, but was with someone else from the same startup. Someone with a similar salary.

Charlie becomes more handsome every day, more confident in his writing and directing. There's something so sexy about the way he comes into his own, no longer afraid of Nicole talking shit behind his back. He blossoms, really, and it's a beautiful thing to watch. 

As Henry grows up, Sandra becomes more and more open with him about what happened. He sees his mom every now and again, whenever he wants to, but he finds himself feeling increasingly distant from her as he learns about the ways she tried so hard to hurt his dad. She never had much interest in actually parenting, so they're more friends than anything else.  
  
Eventually, Henry starts looking at colleges. Charlie tells him it might be nice if he studies on the West Coast, just to get out of New York for a while and explore the country. With an ageing Sandra in Maine and you and Charlie in New York, Henry admits there isn't much of a pull to California, even if the weather there is better. Besides, he wants to follow in his father's footsteps, and decides to study a Bachelors of Fine Arts at NYU. He's leaning more towards acting, though. Charlie couldn't be prouder.

There's one other thing about college- the funding. As he'd planned, Charlie had saved up all of the money he won in the divorce and put them into Henry's college fund. By the time he's accepted into NYU, it's enough money to pay for his studies several times over, and Henry decides to move out, using the money in the fund as well as money he'd saved from summer jobs to pad him.

It's a beautiful life you've built together, despite Nicole's best efforts. Every morning you wake up, glad to be exactly where you are. You smile as you stroke Charlie's hair, smoothing back a grey hair you notice at his temple.

 _His life's been all about stories,_ You think. _The story of his marriage may be over, but his love story's just begun._


End file.
